Peachtree City

Councilman Steve Rapson and former mayor Bob Lenox can agree on something:

neither man wants to "waste" city funds to continue their debate

over whether Rapson violated the city's ethics code.

The city is

footing the bill for the two attorneys who defended Rapson in the ethics

allegation brought by Lenox. The lead attorney charged $150 an hour, but

the city has not yet received a final bill for the service. Lenox guessed

the bill will costs "tens of thousands of dollars."

Two weeks ago,

a city ethics board ruled that Rapson violated the ethics ordinance by

voting to investigate hotel-motel contracts executed with the Development

Authority last year by Lenox. Rapson's wife, Kristi, has filed an unequal

pay suit against the authority and thus City Attorney Rick Lindsey has

ruled that Councilman Rapson can't vote on any matter affecting the development

authority.

Lenox, who

brought forth the ethics complaint, said he is waiting for one more thing

from Rapson.

"Mr. Rapson,

when are you going to apologize to us?" Lenox said Wednesday afternoon.

Rapson contends

the ethics hearing "was a slap in my wife's face through me"

and he alleged that Lenox was responsible for "wating taxpayers'

money" on the attorneys to represent the councilman.

Rapson said

he originally wanted to dispense with the formality of having an attorney

defend him, but he was later convinced otherwise.

Lenox, who

represented himself in the ethics hearing, said he pushed the issue "because

I ran those meetings for 10 years" and he was disappointed Mayor

Steve Brown allowed the matter to unfold as it did.

"Our reputation

for integrity in Peachtree City government has been thoroughly compromised,"

Lenox said, noting that no council member in the city's 44-year history

has ever had to appear before an ethics board to answer accusations of

unethical behavior.

Rapson, however,

said Lenox brought forth the ethics complaint to "take care of his

friends," apparently referring to the members of the Development

Authority.

"If I

find something illegal, I have no choice but to bring it forward,"

Rapson said.

If Rapson appeals

the matter to council, Lenox contends he will fight the issue. Council

may not be able to hear the appeal since Mayor Steve Brown and councilman

Dan Tennant both testified on Rapson's behalf during the original ethics

hearing, Lenox pointed out.

Rapson said

Wednesday that he wants to evaluate the matter further once he returns

from vacation before deciding whether to appeal the ethics board ruling.

"I'm not

going to do it unless it represents the best interest of the citizens,"

Rapson said.

Rapson said

he will ask Lindsey to modify his previous legal opinion that ruled Rapson

couldn't vote on issues pertaining to the Development Authority because

of his wife's lawsuit.

Lenox filed

the ethics complaint against Rapson earlier this year alleging Rapson

violated that ruling when he voted to have the hotel-motel contracts investigated.

Rapson and

others contend Lenox significantly changed the hotel-motel tax contracts

with the development and airport authorities from the versions of the

documents that were before council when it approved a motion allowing

him to enter the agreements.

Lenox contends

all council members were made aware of the changes in an e-mail from the

city manager and a copy of the amended document provided to each council

member at the meeting.

Rapson has

said the changes were so significant that if they were made just before

the meeting, someone should have pointed them out to council.

The most significant

change requires council and the authority to agree before the hotel-motel

tax payments to the authority can be reduced for any reason. An earlier

version of the contract stated that the council had the sole power to

change the funding amount as it wished.

The contracts

are set up to help the authority pay for and operate the city's tennis

center and amphitheater as well as enhance economic development in the

city.

Mayor Brown

attacked the authority in January saying they needed to concentrate solely

on economic development; he tried unsuccessfully to have the tennis center

and amphitheater operations moved to a new "sports and entertainment

authority".

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